Radio dials for home entertainment systems or car stereos systems are utilized to indicate the frequency of a radio station to which a user is listening. Older radio dials contained manual knobs for changing the tuning frequency to allow the user to change the station to which he/she is listening. Many newer radio dials use digital displays to allow a user to scan through available radio channels. Both types of radio dials allow a user to select the media content at one time. In this case, it is the frequency of the radio station. They do not allow the user to make a selection regarding radio content and then further define a type of content to which to listen within that selection.
Apple Computer's iPod™ portable music-playing device displays information pertaining to a user's playlists of music files stored in a memory of the device. The device includes a dial that can be manipulated by the user. However, the user is provided with only a single layer of navigation at a time. For example, the user is shown a main display screen and from that screen can select a music file from a directory to be played.
Sirius™ satellite radio provides a portable radio player with a tunable dial that can be tilted to pause, save songs, and fast forward. The Sirius™ satellite radio only allows the user to set the station to which to listen.
Many home audio products have knob controllers to control radio tuners or volume levels. The audio products are typically simple and only display one type of user-manipulable information at a time to the user, such as the radio station or volume level. They do not, however, allow the user to make a selection of the user-manipulable information and then provide a means for further defining the selection.
Accordingly, none of the present entertainment systems provides a means for allowing a user to select a generic type of content to play, and then further define the content within the generic type to ensure that the content being played is the best suited for the user's listening preferences.